So Far, No Action at Winter Meetings

Published 8:00 pm, Friday, December 13, 2002

The only swapping taking place on the opening day of baseball's winter meetings was of stories about inactivity.

General managers wandered between lobbies at the vast Opryland Hotel asking each other if anything was going on. As of early Friday night, not a single trade had been made.

"Montreal is stagnating things because they have so many players that might be attractive," New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.

The Expos, owned by the other 29 teams, have been told their payroll can't accommodate all the players on their current roster. General manager Omar Minaya, easy to spot in a bright red shirt, was surrounded by reporters and cameramen as soon as he entered the lobby following a morning flight from New York.

"It's early in the process right now," Minaya said Friday night. "The objective is to be able to trim payroll. If there's a trade that I think makes sense, I'm going to make that trade."

Minaya met with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals, and planned late-night meetings with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

He said some teams were "aggressive" in their pursuit and some proposals were "pretty interesting."

"I want to listen to as many clubs as possible and have as many options as possible. There is not a specific date," Minaya said. "We may not speak to 29 teams. We may wind up speaking to 15 teams or 20 teams."

"I hope to be able to do something here, but I don't feel I have to do something here," Minaya said. "I don't have to get down to payroll by Tuesday. I have to get down to payroll by opening day."

Baseball executives kept walking through this sprawling hotel, with 2,881 rooms in huge atriums over seven acres _ there's even a fake river running through it. The hotel is famous for its Christmas shows, and people who came to be entertained _ there even was a midget Elvis lookalike wandering around _ mingled among the baseball types.

The free-agent market, which has driven many winter meetings in recent years, slowed to a near standstill. The only free agent to sign was right-hander Chris Carpenter, who agreed to a one-year contract with St. Louis that guarantees him $500,000.

"It's early still," said New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips, who was searching for a third baseman and talking to the agents for reliever Mike Stanton. "It's been a slow-developing market at this point in the offseason. There are still teams sorting out what they want to do."

Teams have taken a more aggressive approach to non-stars eligible for arbitration, threatening to not offer contracts by the Dec. 20 deadline. The threat of putting more free agents on the market has also slowed trade talks and free-agent signings, according to team executives and agents.

Cashman, who has a meeting scheduled with Minaya, is trying to cut payroll from the team's record high of $135 million this year.

"I have a goal that I want to shave off," he said. "Sometimes, you don't always accomplish your goals."

In addition, Tampa Bay sold the rights to infielder Andy Sheets to Hiroshima of the Japanese Central League.